Your Distance

41 - The Distance Between a Student and a Professor

“University… I haven’t thought about it. Let me think.”

Ting Shuang leaned his back against the fence, propped his elbows on the fence platform and raised his head, looking at the sky with slightly narrowed eyes.

The sunlight coated his young face, throat, and arms honey golden, and the refreshing wind that blew across the roof ran through his short hair, making the front of his loose shirt stick to his chest.

University…

For Ting Shuang, going to college was all too natural, so natural that there hadn’t been the need to think about what exactly it was.

Now that he thought about it, he felt a little stunned. Why didn’t anyone ask him this question before he started university?

Ting Shuang thought for a while before saying, “Bai Laoban, if you ask me what I think of it at this stage, my thoughts are pretty… realistic. I’ve heard people say that university is a place where independence is cultivated and a place for free spirits… But afterwards, I thought that this statement is actually quite sour(1). I’m not saying that it’s not good, it does sound nice as a slogan, but it’s just… Unrealistic. Look, there are so many universities, and so many university students. But how many of them have independent thinking, and a free spirit? Everyone’s still worrying about life once they get out. Postgraduate studies, going abroad, finding a job, all these are practical things that many people think about, and they’re all too anxious…”

Ting Shuang glanced at Bai Changyi, a little uncertain, “Bai Laoban, maybe it’s because I’ve been working for the past few years. I feel like some of the statements that seem to be right, are just mere ink on paper… Mm… If I’ve said anything wrong, tell me.”

“We’re chatting, there is no right or wrong.” Bai Changyi smiled, “Go on.”

That’s right, this was a question without a correct answer.

Bai Laoban just liked asking questions that had no correct answers.

“Then I’ll just say whatever,” Previously, Ting Shuang always felt a little nervous after being questioned, but now his state of mind suddenly relaxed, “If I said that my going to university and pursuing a master’s degree is because I just want to learn, and not because I want the degree, that’d be a lie… These two things are not contradictory, right. The reality is that many jobs require academic qualifications. When my dad’s company recruits employees for R&D, they don’t recruit those with qualifications below a master’s degree. There is also professional stuff that you’d learn so you’d have the ability to solve professional problems. I don’t want to join a company in the future and have everyone think of me as a paratrooper who doesn’t know anything… I want to solve practical problems. I remember a professor of our undergraduate courses mentioned a particularly awkward situation: While university students can’t find jobs, companies can’t recruit workers. Because university students who come out of these universities are out of touch with the needs of companies… Speaking of this, look, most jobs, they hire you to work, so they don’t need any independent mindsets or free spirits…”

Bai Changyi waited for Ting Shuang to finish before speaking, “I don’t think it’s the responsibility of universities to produce labor that meets the needs of enterprises. That’s a task for vocational schools. The vocational education system is not perfect enough, so the responsibility of teaching students vocational skills was pushed to the universities.”

Ting Shuang thought about it for a long time, but couldn’t understand, “So… Bao Laoban, do you think that I’ve made the wrong choice, going to university? But the reality is that all university students need a job. They learn stuff in university and meet like-minded people, as well as grasp various opportunities offered by the universities…”